Trust the process. This has an entirely new meaning to me. Success is delayed. Most of the time, you don’t get better in the moment, but sometime in the future. Accepting this concept of
“delayed success” makes it easier to throw myself into the process, trusting that it will pay off some time later down the road.Success is not linear. This is difficult to understand. It’s Human nature to think that practice=performance, or that A=B. If I put X amount of time in, i’ll yield X result. Sometimes it works like that, but most of the time it doesn't. James Clear, The author of Atomic Habits says “habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance.” He goes on to say that “In the early and middle stages of any quest, there is often a Valley of Disappointment. You expect to make progress in a linear fashion and it’s frustrating how ineffective changes can seem during the first days, weeks, and even months. It doesn't feel like you are going anywhere. It’s a hallmark of any compounding process: the most powerful outcomes are DELAYED.”
Get Real with yourself. Be honest with what your willing to give- having clear expectations increases autonomy and prevents the cycle of guilt or shame. At first, I was down on myself about not practicing enough. But after reflecting, practicing the guitar was third on my priority list behind my family and work. Accepting what place it had in my life, allowed me to have accurate expectations of progress. Adjusting my expectations prevented me from having a feeling of failure, which is a feeling that makes you want to quit.
The Basics are Boring. The way to Mastery is to become excellent at the basics. The only way, then, to get better is to accept that there will be bouts of mundane repitition. You must learn to be ok with, and even find joy, in doing the same thing over and over.